Abstract

ABSTRACT
MATTHEW JOHNSON KENNEDY: Wind Energy Harvesting Utilizing Biaxially Oriented Piezoelectric Polyvinylidenefluoride Film
(Under the direction of Josh Gladden)
With the growing concern over fossil fuels as a finite source of fuel and as a hazard to the environment, society has developed a growing interest in the use of renewable energy. Advancements in solar, nuclear, geothermal, wind, and vibrational energy harvesting, to name a few, have made the concept of using renewables as a main source of energy more feasible. The research and experimentation conducted for this thesis focused on analyzing the practicality of the future implementation of Biaxially Oriented Piezoelectric Polyvinylidenefluoride in the wind energy harvesting industry. The experiment consisted of data collection and analysis of power output as a function of wind speed and was conducted in the low speed wind tunnel in the National Center for Physical Acoustics at the University of Mississippi. The results from the experiment show that, for the specific dimensions of film used, Polyvinylidenefluoride film had a low power output under wind velocities of approximately five to seven meters per second. However, the future implications of PVDF may not be ruled out, for this experiment may pave the way for a new range of specific experiments.